Protect data

Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Protecting information is everyone's responsibility. It’s everywhere at uOttawa: student information, employment information, financial information, research information, vendor contracts, donor information. If disclosed, the reputation of persons or the University could be harmed.

Know the data on your devices. Not sure if you have private data? There are tools that can help. One of these is Identity Finder which many American universities use.

Secure sensitive and private data. Don’t need it? Delete it now.

Think holistically and consider all the devices that you use or have University data on: PC, laptop, phone, tablet, wearable devices, and home computer. Remember to include information stored in cloud services; some don’t use appropriate security to safeguard sensitive data.

Ask yourself, if you have access to different types of University-stored data, do you know how to safeguard the various types of data: public information, intellectual property, building layouts, accounts, financial info, student info, credit card numbers, SINs, student financial info, health info?

Remember to think about data which is paper-based: shred those documents, lock up those cabinets, and don’t put into recycling bins any sensitive info.

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. Throughout the month, we invite you to include in your reflections the security practices for your smartphone, your tablet, as well your laptop.